LEO Weekly May 12, 2021 by leoweekly

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THE OWLS WATCHING THE MAJESTIC BIRDS IN LOUISVILLE LEO IS FOR SALE | PAGE 3

A NEW BEATLES FESTIVAL | PAGE 25

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

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THE OWLS

ON THE COVER

COVER PHOTO BY NATURE’S PORTRAITS BY BETH

WATCHING THE MAJESTIC BIRDS IN LOUISVILLE LEO IS FOR SALE | PAGE 3

A NEW BEATLES FESTIVAL | PAGE 25

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EDITOR’S NOTE

TIME TO RESIGN — PART TWO By Aaron Yarmuth | leo@leoweekly.com BACK IN JUNE 2015, I wrote a column calling on the president of the Louisville Fraternal Order of Police to resign his position. It was titled “Time to Resign.” This column isn’t about him or the police, rather the time to resign. Something interesting happened to that column: The data analytics went bananas. On LEO’s website, Facebook, Twitter, that column racked up more hits than a Google search for “Bob Baffert pee scandal.” (I’m not sure if that’s actually a parallel comparison, but I was determined to get “Bob Baffert pee scandal” into LEO this week.) It was a ﬁne column, but not one I expected to garner extra attention or interest. The only explanation I could surmise was that people saw the headline — “Time to Resign” — and thought I was talking about myself… that it was time for me to resign. Understandable, except, I’d only been at LEO for about 10 months! Sure, it’s always been exhausting, stressful, frustrating… but it was fun, and we were just getting started. I always wanted to test that theory. So, this is a completely unscientiﬁc test of my hypothesis. Only this time it’s for real.

In the coming weeks, I will be moving on from LEO, after nearly seven years. It’s certainly bittersweet, and not without some regrets — chief among them, that I didn’t outlast Mitch McConnell (but I did outlast Trump and Bevin!). I have a lot left to say and do, and I’m sure whatever my next endeavor is it will include engaging the issues I’ve grappled with in my weekly column. Maybe I’ll run for ofﬁce. Maybe I’ll start a podcast… I hear that’s what millennials are into these days. First, we have important business to conduct. LEO needs a new champion — someone to write the next chapter in its eccentric history. When I took over LEO I had two main goals: 1. save a struggling paper, and 2. have fun. The latter was easy. Working with smart, interesting people and engaging the community in myriad ways has been the best part, full-stop. The former, well… we’ve been successful for almost seven years. Sure, there were mistakes and missteps. And there has been plenty of “If I only knew then, what I know now” reﬂecting, recently. Topping that list is probably: I tried to do too

much — learning business while meeting weekly print deadlines took a toll emotionally, psychologically and ﬁnancially. COVID-19 only exacerbated that strain. LEO — like Louisville — is clawing back from the pandemic, and I’m certain that the right leader can build upon that momentum. But in order for LEO to truly reach its potential, it’s going to need fresh spirit, ideas, resources and someone who can commit all their energy and focus into its success. (Not someone who can’t wait to ﬁnish editing so he can go chase his 2-year-old.) LEO needs someone who will protect the platform it provides for voices and organizations who aren’t covered by traditional media; who will grow the wealth of talented local journalists; and who wants to make Louisville a better, weirder… more fun place. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in conducting this runaway train, we are accepting proposals through June 1. (So take Memorial Day weekend to mull it over, and let us know by midnight on June 1.) All offers will be seriously considered — there is no minimum offer. Special consideration will be given to offers that: — enhance LEO’s future and presence in the community, — value creativity, ingenuity and the eccentric spirit,

LEO WEEKLY PROMOS

— engage the community, — protect and enable LEO’s amazing staff to produce the best damn paper in the city, and — demonstrate an overriding commitment to having fun. It really has been/is a privilege to be a part of this storied publication. The frustrations and headaches — which are part of any job or small business — are vastly outweighed by the joys and rewards of working with this awesome group of people, and delivering this community a new piece of unique, free press every week. We know you’ll love it, too. Proposals should be no more than a page — approximately 750 words (or even fewer, if they’re really good words; 1,000 words max) and should include: 1. a description of your vision for LEO Weekly, 2. the resources and experience that will ensure LEO’s future, and 3. monetary bid. (No amount is too small, and nonproﬁts are welcome, as well.) You may attach optional supplementary material to the one-page proposals, including resumes and portfolio materials. Please send proposals, and/or questions to ayarmuth@leoweekly.com. •

May 14 - Quiet Hollers (Outside & Socially Distanced)

May 16 - Back 2 Mac (Outside & Socially Distanced All Ages)

May 15 - Back 2 Mac (Outside & Socially Distanced)

May 28 - Nick Dittmeier & The Sawdusters with Wolfpen Branch (Outside & Socially Distanced)

May 30 - Carly Johnson Album Release (Outside & Socially Distanced)

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

VIEWS

WRITE SOME SHIT

SORRY, MITCH, HISTORY DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT BE ASSURED YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT By Hannah Drake | leo@leoweekly.com white people think just like Mitch. They LAST WEEK, Senate MINORITY Leader think you just “get past” slavery. They Mitch McConnell held a press conference want to treat history like a buffet, skipping after he toured the Regional Biocontainover the items that do not appeal to them ment Lab at UofL. During the press and only dining on the parts of history conference, McConnell spoke about the that they enjoy. Many white people only 1619 Project. The year 1619 is a pivotal like the pieces of history where they are year for the United States because it was painted as the victor or the benevolent the year Africans were ﬁrst brought to the white people coming colony of Virginia, to “save the savages beginning the worst from themselves.” crimes against They only want the humanity and He wants to gloss parts of history that America’s original paint them in the best sin. McConnell over the part that light. But history stated, “I think this LED to the Civil doesn’t work like is about American that. You don’t get history and the War. But history to cling to the parts most important you love and skip dates in American doesn’t work like over the parts you history. And my that. To understand don’t. Reading his view — and I think comments, I wonder most Americans this nation, you how the Civil War think — dates like was seen as a pivotal the Declaration of must take in the moment in history Independence, the totality of everybut not the beginConstitution, the ning of slavery? Civil War are sort of thing that made You do not have a the basic tenets of American history. America what it is Civil War without slavery. However, There are a lot of today and the foun- Mitch wants to skip exotic notions about slavery and get what are the most dation of that is the over to the Civil War part important points in because many white American history. year 1619 when people fought in the I simply disagree the privateer The Civil War, and he with the notion point to that and that The New York White Lion brought can say, “See. See how Times laid out there that the year 20 Africans ashore good we are.” He wants to gloss over was one of those to Jamestown, the part that LED to years. I think that the Civil War. But issue that we all are Virginia. history doesn’t work concerned about — like that. To underracial discriminastand this nation, tion — it was our you must take in the original sin. We’ve been working for 200-and-some-odd years totality of everything that made America to get past it. We’re still working on it, and what it is today, and the foundation of that is the year 1619 when the privateer The I just simply don’t think that’s part of the White Lion brought 20 Africans ashore to core underpinning of what American civic Jamestown, Virginia. education ought to be about.” However, I understand Mitch’s desire While Mitch’s comments shocked to just skip over slavery. If I was directly some, I was not shocked at all. Many

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

related to slaveowners, I might want to skip over that part too, Mitch. Two of McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers, James McConnell and Richard Daley, owned at least 14 slaves in Limestone Country, Alabama. All but two of them were Black women. So perhaps Mitch wants to just skip over slavery because he is directly related to those that enslaved people. Perhaps Mitch is opposed to reparations because he may have to give up some of this family’s ill-gotten gains. What Mitch and many white people need to understand is there is no America without slavery. Period. That is what many white people cannot comprehend. Black people built America. Much of the wealth this country has is rooted in slavery. Slavery is embedded into the very fabric of this nation. Many of the issues we see today are directly tied to America’s original sin. A sin that America has never atoned for. White America has fought for years to conceal its true history. As I stated in my blog, “It’s Time We Had A White History Month,” entire organizations were established, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the late 1800s, to construct and disperse the lie that slavery was benign, and slaves were happy. They worked to spread these lies in textbooks and continued recycling the lie to young children until the reality of slavery was whitewashed. Trying to continue the lie, Mitch and about 40 of his Republican colleagues wrote a letter asking Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to withdraw a set of proposed priorities for students to be taught the totality of American history. The letter stated, “that would push a politicized and divisive agenda. Americans never decided our children should be taught that our country is inherently evil.” Hello, Mitch: kidnapping, enslaving, raping, beating, torturing, dividing families, auctioning humans, murdering Black people is evil. And that is what this country did to Black people. There is no way to make the ugliness beautiful. Mitch and others like him want to hide from the truth, but be assured, America, your sins will ﬁnd you out. You can only

conceal history for so long. The 1619 Project brought much of that truth to light, and they don’t like it. And I will tell you why they don’t like it. Because white people have to face themselves, and it is NOT pretty. You are not the victor. You are not the hero. You are not the knight coming in on a white horse to save the day. In fact, you are the villain in the story of America. And that is the part you don’t want to admit. The worst, egregious crimes against humanity have been committed by people that look just like you. And the lie you have told to the world, that it is everyone else but you, is coming to an end. Everyone can see you for what you are because of what you have done. When I study slavery, I always wonder what kind of person could do such a thing? What kind of human are you that you can hang a man from a tree and invite your children to watch? What kind of human are you that you can rape a Black woman and send her back into the ﬁelds? What kind of human are you that you can beat a Black man so much his body bears the scars forever? What kind of human are you that you construct a ship to hold humans as cargo? What kind of human are you that you divide up families and sell them to the highest bidder? That speaks to me about the heart of America is and helps me understand why America is what it is today. Perhaps Mitch wants to gloss over the beginning of slavery in America and everything that came with it because he sees his slave-owning grandfathers when he looks at his face and knows exactly what he has descended from. That evil is in your bloodline, Mitch, and that is the part you wish to avoid. But you cannot outrun yourself, Mitch, and try as it may, America cannot outrun its history. The only way to ﬁx it is to face it. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

NEWS & ANALYSIS

ADVOCATES WORK TO ELIMINATE BARRIERS TO URBAN FARMING IN LOUISVILLE By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD ROSE: UOFL PUTS MITCH IN HIS PLACE

UofLs leadership publicly repudiated Sen. Mitch McConnell for his comments marginalizing the significance of 1619 in American history — the date referencing the first slaves who were brought to the American colonies. In a letter to the entire university, UofLs interim Senior Associate Vice President for Diversity and Equity Dr. V. Faye Jones said in part, “To imply that slavery is not an important part of United States history not only fails to provide a true representation of the facts, but also denies the heritage, culture, resilience and survival of Black people in America … To be true to that vision, President [Neeli] Bendapudi, Provost (Lori Stewart) Gonzalez and I reject the idea that the year 1619 is not a critical moment in the history of this country.” This one has to sting for McConnell, a Louisville alum, huge sports fan and the “McConnell” part of UofL’s McConnell Center… but at least he has to be proud of his alma mater for showing leadership in calling him out for his racist bullshit.

THORN: MCCONNELL 0% FOCUSED ON YOU

Michael George and Mariel Gardner are the creators of 5th Element Farms, an urban food garden on Wilson Avenue. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

MARIEL Gardner and Michael George originally started growing pollinator plants in their urban garden, located at 26th Street and Wilson Avenue, with dreams of cultivating cucumbers for a specialty pickle business. But when the pandemic hit, and they noticed essential goods like toilet paper disappearing from grocery store shelves, Gardner and George pivoted their Parkland operations into a project that could help feed their neighbors — and bind them closer together — in an area of the city where systemic racism has strangled food access. “We were like, food could be next,” said Gardner. “It was just, we have this need, because we have to eat, people are being laid off from work, unemployment wasn’t coming through for people. So, we just said, we have the skills and the space, let’s just do it.” Over the past year, Gardner and George have grown lettuce, cantaloupe,

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

tomatoes, peppers, carrots, zucchinis and more on the three small plots that make up 5th Element Farms. They’ve distributed 300 pounds of that food to their neighbors. And yet, Gardner’s urban farm doesn’t seem to qualify as one under the city’s current zoning deﬁnition. Gardner believes her garden’s unclear status in the city’s eyes may have stymied her efforts to buy two parcels across the street from her farm that are owned by the city. Louisville’s existing Land Development Code contains sections for “community gardens” and “market gardens.” 5th Element Farms doesn’t seem to qualify as the former because Gardner and George are the sole farmers, and they don’t lease the space to anyone else. And it is deﬁnitely not the latter, because they don’t sell their food; they give it away. There is a proposed change to the

Land Development Code, however: As part of Metro Government’s efforts to make its historically racist code more equitable, the city’s planning department has proposed striking the deﬁnitions of “community gardens” and “market gardens,” which are only permitted in certain zoning codes. Instead, the revised LDC would allow all “urban agriculture” throughout the city. But, gardeners would technically have to apply for a permit with the city to operate. “People still have a hard time, I guess, getting up and running,” said Emily Liu, the director of Louisville Metro Planning and Design Services. “So we decided to look at it as part of the Land Development Code, because…especially in West Louisville, there’s a very short list of accessibility of fresh food. And so we think this can be related to trying to remove barriers.” Gardner hopes that the LDC change

As if we didn’t already know Sen. McConnell has no interest in representing Kentucky’s interests in Washington, at least he came right out and said it. Speaking to reporters last week, McConnell was asked about the turmoil among U.S. House Republican leadership (the effort to replace Rep. Liz Cheney as GOP conference chair). McConnell, who never answers questions he doesn’t want to, responded, “100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration.” Yeah, Mitch, we knew that already. No serious person thought you would allow for bipartisanship or functioning government while you’re still breathing. At least President Biden and other Democrats won’t have to answer any questions about bipartisanship now.

ABSURD: DRUGS AT THE DERBY

The 2021 Kentucky Derby-winning horse Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid that is a race-day violation. The horse is trained by Bob Baffert, maybe the best-known figure in the industry. During a Derby where mask-less infielders were using safety signs as selfie opportunities, and an industry known for its problematic past and shady antics, this embarrassing situation just adds to a long list.

ROSE: WEED COLLEGE

Sullivan University is starting an online Cannabusiness Studies program beginning in June. The nine-month course will be aimed at the business side of the industry, giving students knowledge about legal issues, the supply chain, retail, etc.. Weed is obviously not legal in Kentucky yet because our state struggles with progressive ideas and forward-thinking, but we all know it will eventually happen. And when it is legal, you might want to be ready.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

will encourage more urban gardening, especially in The West End’s food-starved areas. There, large grocery stores have abandoned the area without suitable replacements or successful intervention by Metro government. “We have an overabundance of land in the West, and the West is a food desert. ...Land’s intended purpose is not to build on, it’s to grow on. We can solve so many of our own problems just by using things that we have as the assets that they are,” said Gardner. But, even with the changes to the LDC, there would be remaining problems — urban gardening advocates say that a weed ordinance in the city’s Property Maintenance Code creates confusion about whether yard gardens can operate freely in the city.

‘REMOVING BARRIERS’ IN THE LDC

If Metro Council ends up approving the changes to the Land Development Code, accepted forms of urban agriculture will be expanded to all types of city farming, including backyard gardens and community orchards, said Abby Rudolph, a member of the Food in Neighborhoods Community Coalition, which has been advocating for alterations to the LDC. Under the changes, what are now community gardens would also no longer have to comply with parking requirements, said Liu. But, the new designation does come with some regulations to limit what Liu called “nuisances,” including limits on hours of operation and composting. She said the city hasn’t received any negative comments about its proposed changes. Rudolph called the alterations “big changes that will hopefully help make a difference.” The Louisville Planning Commission sent the LDC changes to Metro Council with a favorable recommendation. Liu believes the council’s Planning and Zoning Committee will ﬁrst address the changes at its June 1 meeting. If the council passes it, suburban cities with zoning authority in Jefferson County, such as Shively and Jeffersontown, must still independently adopt the LDC changes.

REMAINING ISSUES IN PROPERTY MAINTENANCE CODE?

In 2017, Amanda Fuller’s urban farm and orchard in the Portland neighborhood received a citation by the Louisville Department of Codes and Regulations. In her city-certiﬁed market garden called Lots of Food, Fuller grew crops, as well as edible wild plants, pollinator plants and tall

grasses to promote pollinator forage and habitat cover. She successfully contested the citation, but urban agriculture advocates are worried that this might continue to happen, even under the LDC changes, should a certain Property Maintenance Code ordinance remain untouched. The city’s “weed ordinance” says all grasses, annual plants and vegetation other than trees or shrubs in the city should be under 10 inches, unless they are “cultivated flowers and gardens.” “Cultivated” is the key word in question. To Mariah Corso, a founder of Beargrass Thunder — another group advocating 5th Element Farms is growing collard for changes to the LDC greens, cabbage and more. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN and PMC — it could be HARRINGTON interpreted as appearing maintained, even though There have been some advocates say it should simply mean trainings in the “intentional.” But, healthy growth is not past but not as always tidy growth. many during the “A lot of times people think that corn is pandemic. a weed,” said Jody Dahmer, also with BearAt an April grass Thunder. “But if it feeds people and Code Enforcement it feeds the family or it feeds the property Board hearing, a owner, why do your neighbors have more of weed ordinance a say in what you can grow than you do?” violation received Code enforcement officers generby Rosemary ally don’t cite a property unless someone Bauman, who contacts the city and complains. Because maintains a native of this, Rudolph believes that property Rosemary Bauman’s native plant garden in The Highlands. | PROVIDED PHOTO. plant garden in maintenance code violations are more likely The Highlands, autonomy and health from within, instead of to be enforced in poor and majority Black was dismissed. At the meeting, Bauman continuing to rely on the government, which neighborhoods — precisely those that need raised concerns about the weed ordinance. has repeatedly failed them. urban gardens the most. In response, Chair of the Enforcement Board “We were tired of waiting for things to Robert Kirchdorfer, the director of the member David Pearl said that Bauman’s get better, tired of waiting for public officials department of codes & regulations, said garden should be a learning tool for code to do their jobs,” Gardner wrote in a text urban gardens are allowed in the city, but enforcement officers and an “education after LEO visited her farm. “Farming is the they need to be maintained and contained to process” needs to happen. He said he would way we can tackle all the issues we care the property they’re on. also talk to Metro Council members he knew about. Climate change, relationship building, He also said that most of the departabout modifying the weed ordinance. generational wealth, music, ancestry, food. ment’s code violations come from vacant Wild Ones Louisville, a group promoting All the things we consider necessities.” properties— of which there are a heavy the growing of native plants, and Beargrass All of the city’s efforts to improve food concentration in Louisville’s lower income Thunder are working on recruiting a council access in The West End and other lower neighborhoods. member to adopt legislation changing the income areas have not taken so far, includAnother problem with code enforcement, PMC’s weed ordinance. ing investments in nonprofits and mobile according to advocates, is that officers aren’t markets. Changing the Land Development consistent with their citations and sometimes TAKING IT UPON THEMSELVES Code hands some of the power to fix it to the don’t seem to understand the weed ordi5th Element Farms is about more than people who are the most impacted. • nance themselves. just food sovereignty, said Gardner. It’s Code enforcement could do a better job connected to all the other efforts in the of training its employees, said Kirchdorfer. area to find community, culture, economic LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

THE OWLS

WATCHING THE MAJESTIC BIRDS IN LOUISVILLE By Sean Patrick Hill | leo@leoweekly.com

ON A CLOUDY evening in early spring, I was walking alone on the trail above Cull Hollow when I heard the great horned owl. Its call was subtle, like wind passing over the lip of a bottle placed at a distance among the trees. It came, near as I could figure, from the hillside across the creek. I paused when rain began to fall and leaned against a black oak, listening. The call seemed plaintive, but more than likely this was only a reflection of my own melancholy cast among the brambles. Soft as a breath, the call of the great horned owl is not as piercing as that of the other owls, neither the screech, the barred, nor the saw-whet. It is soothing, rather. Were there a roar of traffic, or even fast-flowing water, the song would be

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

submerged in the sound, lost. It is incredible to think how much we miss because of such common distractions. I stood beside the tree until the rain stopped, then walked on, following the trail up the ridge and back towards the car, parked beside some springs at Guerilla Hollow. But though my feet were tethered to the trail, my attention drifted out towards the owl. I listened for it the entire way, stopping each time I heard it. I suppose I hoped to catch a sight of the owl in ﬂight. I saw nothing, though I scanned the gathering dark. The crepuscular hour descended. I was south of the city, in the Bernheim Research Forest. At more than 16,000 acres, both the research

forest and the contiguous arboretum naturally provide prime habitat for such a bird as the owl. Food is abundant, of course: squirrels, cottontails, chipmunks, mice and voles. Opportune nesting sites allow for security. The territory is vast, and beyond Bernheim’s boundaries, there are yet more ﬁelds, more forest tracts. But like so many raptors — eagles, hawks and falcons among them — the great horned owl is likewise to be found within the city limits, in the core of Louisville itself. Only days before, I had visited two nesting sites of the great horned owl, one in Cherokee Park and the other in Cave Hill Cemetery. I had taken my daughter to see both, and I was disappointed she could not be there with me in

that moment on the ridge in Bernheim. Last summer, we one, with its prominent tufts — commonly mistaken, of discovered a great horned owl pair in the Beargrass Creek course, for “ears” — and its bold yellow eyes, that would State Nature Preserve adjacent to the Louisville Nature announce itself. Its stare is described as “intimidating,” Center; we heard them as we walked uphill through and belies, at least in our imagination, the ferocity attribneighboring Joe Creason Park at the edge of the woods. uted to the great horned owl, a raptor weighing only three I do not know if a nest exists on that tract, or where. By pounds but capable of taking down large raptors itself, the time I arrived in Bernheim, it interested me, of course, like osprey or peregrine falcons. Its talons are formidable that the great horned owl was and are used to crush the spines asserting itself in my daily reality, Last year I became of its prey with a force reputedly in my mind, and had been for nearly as much as 500 pounds per square aware of the a year. inch, its grip perhaps ten times as strong as that of a human hand. Last year, I became aware of numerous barred The “tiger owl,” as it has been the numerous barred owl nests throughout Cherokee Park, as well. owl nests through- called, is found throughout North America. They hunt at night, someI was one among many in that out Cherokee Park, times at dusk. Their night vision is regard. The barred owls became an superb, their hearing impeccable. In attraction, especially because their as well. I was one addition to the usual prey, this owl nests hosted owlets. There were, by my count, three nests I was aware among many in that can hunt skunks, ducks, opossums, frogs, snakes, even smaller owls. of throughout the park: one at the regard. The barred They are no friend to the crow, edge of the woods along Cherokee who will mob and harass an owl. Road and two above Beargrass owls became an The crow has every reason to fear Creek. This spring, the pairs of the owl, which hunts them. great horned owls in both Cherokee attraction, espeThe great horned owl will begin and Cave Hill came to everyone’s cially because nesting as early as late winter. attention, with social media playing owls will frequently take a role. A few visitors posted phototheir nests hosted These over the abandoned nest of a larger graphs. In good weather, the posts drew small crowds. owlets. There were, bird, that of a hawk or a heron or even an eagle, as is the case with The fascination of onlookers by my count, three the owls in Cave Hill Cemetery, I have seen beneath these nests who claimed an abandoned hawk’s — photographers, birders, even nests I was aware nest. They will also nest in the parents bringing their children — is cavities of broken trees — such is palpable. There is something in the of throughout the the case with the owls in Cherokee owl that touches a deep part of us, park: one at the Park, nested down in the crotch of and the fact of owls nesting so close The female will incubate to us encourages a new relationship edge of the woods athebeech. dull-colored eggs for a period to the wild and what is, at heart, a of four to five weeks. Two or three symbol. We have known the owl along Cherokee eggs are common. At five weeks, our whole lives, through fables, Road, and two the young will begin to climb the through nature programs, but we branches, and by 10 weeks they will may never have seen one at such above Beargrass fly. The parents, both of whom hunt proximity. To be able to do so in the city is fortunate. Creek. This spring, for the young, will continue to feed the brood for several months. A simple and summative senthe pairs of greatThese are mere facts that do little tence that one man uttered beneath to describe such a creature as the the beech trees in the park was horned owls in both owl. We may understand them, a exemplative of this interest: “I love Cherokee and Cave little. There comes a moment when owls,” he said, his eyes plying the owl turns its head — as they canopy for the dark silhouettes of Hill came to every- an famously rotate their heads upon the birds. I wanted my daughter to their spines some 270 degrees — to see them, too. I thought she might one’s attention, face you. Its eyes grip you both come to love them in the same way with social media with its gaze and the attendant quesI did. In any regard, the owls are tion that may not even rise until you an indication of many things. The playing a role. are far from the woods, waiting at health of a habitat. Climate change. a red light, or lying in bed late at Even our own intimacy with the night: What does the owl see in me? What is it thinking? landscape. *** *** The great horned owl has been with us since the PleisBubo virginianus, the great horned owl, is the quintestocene, an era stretching back nearly 3 million years ago. sential owl of North America. The largest of the owls In our mythologies, the owl has been with us for thouon the continent, it is mythic in stature. It would be no sands of years at least. In the Western tradition, the owl surprise that when an owl comes to mind, it would be this

is associated with Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and, later, the Roman goddess Minerva for the same attribute — hence, the owl’s association with wisdom. The Greek outlook on the owl was largely positive, but the Romans, for their part, saw the owl as a harbinger of doom, and they began the tradition of nailing the body of an owl to the door to ward off evil. The custom apparently persisted in parts of Europe until as recent as the 18th century. In the Appalachians, an owl seen during the day has long portended ill luck or, at worst, an early death. Casca, in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” describes the owl as an omen of death. “Out on you, owls!” shouts Richard III, “nothing but songs of death?” Europeans have carried these ideas across the Atlantic. Among the cultures of Kentucky before the arrival of the whites, the Cherokee esteemed the owls but also deemed them dangerous. The Owl was one of the clans of the Shawnee; their warriors wore owl feathers tucked in their bandanas. Knowing this, we might find a suitable understanding of the owl on this new continent. The more we come to know the owl, one might argue, the more we will have arrived on these shores, and the more we might call this our home. *** Scientists from the Audubon Society, having used 140 million bird observations and climate models, have determined that at current temperatures, the great horned owl will continue to thrive in the region. However, at an increase of even 1.5 degrees Celsius, this owl will begin to lose range in southern Kentucky, a great deal of Tennessee and large areas of the southern Appalachian Mountains. At twice that temperature increase, more habitat in Kentucky will be lost and, to the south, hundreds of square miles will become uninhabitable. Spring heat waves, the Society notes, can endanger young birds in the nest. Wildfires destroy forest habitat and, if repeated, will prevent recovery. Like many birds, their habitats will expand to the north as huge swaths of land in Canada warm. For now, we have a stable population, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the great horned owl as of “Least Concern.” By now, this late in the spring, the owlets I have been watching have all flown. The nest of the great horned owls in Cave Hill, empty of fledglings, is set in the crotch of a towering white oak beside the lake. I came upon it unintentionally, while photographing several graves in the area. With the numbers of birders with binoculars at hand, as well as the photographers equipped with tripods and long lenses, it was clear an extraordinary bird was close. The Rev. Lee Payne Jr. stood along the road with his own camera, answering questions. At the time, the female was largely relegated to the nest, and the owlets would at times peek over the lip of the nest to observe us, curious. The male, he said, often perches in a large pine tree across the lake. One could see the nesting owls without the aid of lenses, though it helped to have them. In addition to being a chaplain and the security team manager, Payne is the wildlife specialist of Cave Hill Cemetery. There are numerous wild species within the cemetery that he can speak of, many of them birds — buffleheads, wood ducks, red-tailed hawks, cormorants, and Baltimore orioles among others. There are also flying LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

A female great horned owl a few feet from the nest. | PHOTO BY NATURE’S PORTRAITS BY BETH.

squirrels, foxes, and river otters, and certainly there are prey species within the nearly 300 acres that the cemetery bounds. Payne told me he has been watching this pair for six years. The pair nested this year in January; there were two owlets. He estimates that 2,000 people have come to see the birds. To see the birds clearly makes people happy. Birders, in particular, are eager to share information, and it was here that a woman told me of the great horned Oowls nesting in Cherokee Park, near the bank of Beargrass Creek.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

I ﬁrst visited the nest in Cherokee Park, cradled in the trunk of a large beech tree, with my 11-year-old daughter. She is not especially interested in birds, but I wanted her to see them, if we could. We parked the car at the end of Eastern Parkway and followed the paved path from Baringer Spring along the dry creekbed toward the meadow known as Frisbee Field. At the bottom of the Cochran Hill Road, we turned east toward Beals Branch, crossing the stone bridge over Beargrass Creek. At this point, we entered the woods where we saw several people peering into the crowns of the trees.

A man who had clearly been surveying the place for some time, weeks at least, pointed out the owls in some distant treetops. There was, as well, a juvenile among the small clan. He showed us another beech tree where the owls eat and, beneath it, a collection of owl pellets, bones, and a bloodied rabbit’s foot. The leaves of the underbrush about the trunk were stained white with droppings. I showed my daughter these things. We climbed the hillside there and went looking for the female, perched in the distance. As we circled around and came down a trail above the water, the owl turned to

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face us, its gaze unwavering. I gazed at it 50 yards from the Chemung River, had a myself, for a while, until it looked away. I bird feeder, and so we would all sit about admired its tenacity, its ferocity. I suppose the window watching cardinals, blue jays, I appreciated its interest in me, too, no mourning doves. Deer would sometimes matter how short lived. roam into the yard from the river. WoodI would often walk in Cherokee Park in chucks tunneled under our porch and grazed the grass in the evening. the evenings and, without fail, would stop But to see these animals as something near the nest. One evening, alone, I saw a larger, as emblems, like the seasons, of single owlet perched resolute at the edge the world, would offer us a common of the nest, fully in view. No one else was about. It watched language, a common me. I imagined from It sometimes seems perspective it curious. In the which we might distance, along the measure our lives. to me that, as a ridge, I heard the The animals are people, we have distinctive call of larger than emblems, shopsassyfoxconsign.com the juvenile. It took course; they are so little in the way of some time to realize as much personalithat the female was ties as they are mysof traditions. We directly above me. teries. When we are speak of televiThis is the last time grieved, we might I saw any of the turn to the animals sion programs we great horned owls, for their character, though I know they for what wisdom remember when are about. Despite they have gathered we were young, of in their survival over the freeway that New Hours 502.895.3711 runs close to this of years. cities we have been millions Tue–Fri 11–5 pm 150 Chenoweth Ln stretch of the creek, We might deﬁne the Sat 10–4 pm it would be possible, world as something to as students, of if one was attentive, other than ourselves. music we loved as to hear their breathy To be honest, I call and to see, disalso my daughteens. Growing up, ter towant tinguished from the take something clumps of squirrel of a moment, staring my family did not nests scattered in the up at the owls and talk about animals carry it with her canopy, their unmistakable silhouette in when I am gone. as an aspect of the failing light of I would hope that our lives until we an evening. on some evening, perhaps when she is *** moved to upstate my age, she might What my daughwalk to the edge of ter thinks of the owls New York. the woods herself, is not clear. I ask *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 even in a thin rain her, but she seems and listen for the call that would draw unwilling to articulate beyond simple her back in time, to these woods, to this statements — “It’s cool,” things like that. creek, to this time when her father was I’m not disappointed, exactly, but I want her to see more than the owls; I want her still young, standing beside her. I want her to see that her father is interested in them, to remember that I walked into the woods and, in fact, that numerous people come to to witness what I loved in this world, marsee them, sometimes daily. These people veling, my hand perched on her shoulder Code. 700.500 carry binoculars and talk with enthusiasm. and, for a moment, our eyes meeting in They share what they know. I want her to the gathering dark. • see that the birds deserve our regard. It sometimes seems to me that, as a old. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 people, we have so little in the way of traKelly Neat, DVM • Jennifer Rainey, DVM • Emilee Zimmer, DVM • Baly McGill, DVM clients *For only.new Not be clients combined other offer. toother 2 pets perUp household. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. clients only.only. Not with to be combined with any offer. Up 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. Must 700.500 *Forto new Not toany be combined withUp any other offer. toto2 pets perExp. household. Exp. 6/1/21. Cashier700.500 Code. 700.525 present coupon for discount. ditions. We speak of television programs we remember when we were young, of cities we have been to as students, of music we loved as teens. Growing up, @vca_fairleigh @vcafairleighanimalhospital my family did not talk about animals as 1212 Bardstown Road • Louisville, KY 40204 www.vcafairleigh.com an aspect of our lives until we moved to 502-451-6655 VCAfairleigh.com *The $25 First Exam is for wellness visits only. upstate New York. The house, less than

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HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED THE WAY WE USE THE OUTDOORS FIVE WRITERS REFLECT ON NATURE DURING A STRANGE TIME

Pedestrians on the Scenic Loop in Cherokee Park. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

THE PANDEMIC made it difficult to go anywhere with ease, so most of us spent a lot of time at home, reconfiguring our lives to adapt to a strange and devastating year. But, for many, it also changed our relationship with the outdoors, one of the few places that provided consistency and safety. Now, the city is starting to reopen, with several events popping up across town and declining rates of the virus, but our staff wanted to take a look at the ways the pandemic reshaped how we got outside and how those changes will stick with us moving forward. Below, five LEO writers reflect on how nature brightened bad times.

GARDENING WITH INSECTS

Sometimes, your psyche makes decisions that prepare you for events that you have no idea you should be prepared for. In 2019, I spent the bulk of my summer working on my deck. I bought new furniture, planned my ﬂower garden and made my outdoor space the sanctuary that I’ve been wanting. My thought was that when I’m a little older, maybe more settled, that I’ll really enjoy being out there more than I already do. One day, I thought, it will be so perfect. Enter 2020, and having my deck intact and cozy certainly made the year more palatable. It likely saved my life in many

ways. In the time I spent outside on my deck, I did what I’ve done most years since I began gardening in 2012: I photographed bugs. When I started back then, I was pregnant with my son, and it was a time to convene with the great mother while I was making my transition into motherhood. Then, I almost exclusively used my Canon to shoot, but now I almost always use my cell phone. It’s just easier and the bugs seem to be far less intimidated by the small phone lens as opposed to the larger macro lens moving towards them. Being with insects is an exercise in meditation. You have to be calm, breathing slowly and still to let them trust you. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

When you are calm, they are calm and will give you unreal access to their tiny little worlds. Try it but ﬁrst, Breathe. —Erica Rucker

DATING DURING COVID

In the pre-vaccine COVID world, outdoor dates were my lifeline. Last year, in the midst of our summer “situationship,” my not-boyfriend and I based our virus precautions on a mix of scrupulosity, CDC guidance and folk wisdom. I wasn’t fully comfortable with some of his suggestions for how to spend our time together (a crowded nightclub, for instance, was totally out of the question), but there was no way that my two-week vacation to his place could be ﬁlled solely by watching “90 Day Fiancé” clips inside his apartment. (Not that we didn’t try.) Outdoor dates, then, were the answer — a safe, fun and season-appropriate compromise. We went to the beach, the pool, multiple parks and evening riverfront walks, always making sure to keep our distance from others, who did the same. This wasn’t even in Louisville; this was in Pittsburgh, where I was born but only lived in for a year. Our outdoor dates let me see the natural beauty of the area in a way I could never have appreciated as a baby. I’m not a homebody by any means; my independence is one of the freedoms I enjoy most. Before COVID, when I was living in Manhattan, going on a date meant going to places like a theater, museum or a familiar club — all full of life but all crowded and indoors. Quite honestly, the idea of going somewhere outside besides a beach or a breathtaking mountain hike would have seemed relatively boring. Now, though, I realize what I’d been missing. I’m becoming more comfortable with meeting new dates indoors as long as we’re on the same page about being vaxxed or wearing masks when we have to — something you can actually ﬁlter for on certain dating apps! — but I’m just as happy to go somewhere where we can enjoy the best of the natural world around us. —Carolyn Brown

A NEW WAY TO RUN

Running uphill is one of the worst parts of running, so I never thought trail running sounded too fun. Pavement only for me, thanks. But, while the pandemic allowed more time for running, it also made my old routes feel repetitive: Wake up early, run up and down the same four streets, then go home. Repeat every other day until exhaustion. So, I let my SO take me on a graded jog in the hills of Cherokee. The scrambles up dirt mounds were more difﬁcult, but it also gave me an excuse to slow down and walk sometimes. The scenery was more engaging, my brain felt challenged by avoiding small rocks and tree branches, and — now that it’s getting warmer — I ﬁnd that it’s cooler speeding under a green canopy than in a neighborhood with spotty cover. Summer running is the actual worst part of running, after all. And, trail running is pretty much just as low barrier as regular running is. Or, at least, a salesperson at Pacers &

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

Female Common Whitetail dragonfly resting on rock. | PHOTO BY ERICA RUCKER.

Racers in New Albany told me that street running shoes transform into trail running kicks much easier than the other way around. So, strap on a pair of your retired running shoes (this isn’t necessarily salesperson-recommended, but it works for me) and get going. There are plenty of trails in the area that make for a good run: Try Cherokee, the Parklands, the Knobstone or Jefferson Memorial Forest. I also suspect that Waverly Park and Bernheim would be good spots to get in some miles. Sure, it might wreck your Strava stats, but you can call yourself a trail runner now, which sounds much more impressive. — Danielle Grady

DOWN BY THE RIVER

Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved being outside. My first love was riding bikes. It didn’t matter where or why. From there, I’ve taken up hiking, walking and the occasional jog. So my relationship with the great outdoors was already cemented well-before COVID struck and understandably shut down the world. While the first few months featured cooler temperatures and high anxiety, as we eased into the new normal, I needed a new outlet. I’m a social person, albeit one that toes the line between introvert and extrovert. Sure, a Zoom date or two was a perfectly reasonable option, but that didn’t quite scratch the itch. Once the summer heat hit, my friends and I found the perfect solution to our shared struggle: the river. The Ohio River is and probably will always be gross as hell, but if you find just the right spot at just the right time of day, you get the perfect breeze. Sitting in a lawn chair, feet posted up, Afrobeat softly issuing from a Bluetooth speaker became the perfect afternoon. The secret: get there and find some shade. Get cozy, bring

friends. Sure, you have to look at Indiana, but the end result is a mellow gold paradise of ﬂip-ﬂops and jams, the perfect encapsulation of the Parrothead way of life, but with music that I actually like. —Syd Bishop

LOOKING FOR A BIKE

Like almost anyone else with a rudimentary interest in cycling, but had yet to dive deeper into that world, during the pandemic I began a search for a road bike. Stock was wildly low — especially used entry-level bikes in a journalists’ price range — since gyms were closed or people were wary of them. But after the ice retreated, with some patience and a little luck, I stumbled upon exactly what I was looking for — a pretty well taken care of endurance bike that could zip around town for long treks and climb the hills in Cherokee Park. Before COVID, I had a cruiser, which I mostly used for easy Sunday rides and to bar hop, but I could use this new purchase as an exercise and adrenaline machine, pedaling with speed and bombing down hills. That last part, in and of itself, helped the pandemic blues, but I also think there’s something to be said about how the last year and a half made us take the leap — or plan to take the leap — into something we’ve always wanted to do. And I think that trend will continue. Those clubs, groups, sports, events, places you’ve wanted to try but have been putting off for years? The last 15 months probably made you think about them a lot. I know I have. Hopefully we all have the opportunity soon to chase those things. —Scott Recker

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STAFF PICKS FRIDAY, MAY 14-JULY 17

‘Form, Not Function: Quilt Art At The Carnegie’ Carnegie Center for Art & History | 201 E. Spring St., New Albany carnegiecenter.org | Free If you prefer your quilts on the wall and not on the bed, then this exhibition is ART for you. In the 17th annual “Form, Not Function,” the Carnegie continues its quest to feature the best examples of contemporary art quilts in the United States. Out of 358 works submitted, the jurors (Valerie Goodwin, Dan Olfe and Louisville’s Denise Mucci Furnish) selected 23 for display. The reception (in-house — yay! — with visitors still needing to wear masks and social distance) is Friday, May 14 from 6-8 p.m. There will be music by the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Quartet, wine and appetizers. —Jo Anne Triplett

SATURDAY, MAY 15

The Black Child Book Fair

Roots 101 African American Museum | 124 N. First St. | Search Facebook Free | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. “Black children need to see faces that look like theirs and stories about people that look like them, written by people that look like them,” writes Darryl Harvey, an author READ himself and the president of the Black Child Book Fair, which he’s taking to six cities around the country this spring and summer. His second stop is Louisville — the Roots 101 African American Museum in Louisville, specifically. He’ll be there along with authors Nakeyia Jones and Briana S. Parker. There will be presentations and readings, as well as performances by The Real Young Prodigys, Mighty Shades of Ebony and Lionheart. —LEO

‘The Gele Skyscraper’ by Clara Nartey. Digital/ thread painting.

FRIDAY, MAY 14-15

‘Tour Movie’

Baxter Avenue Theaters | 1250 Bardstown Road | Search Facebook Free | 8:30 p.m. Filmmaker Beau Kaelin’s ninth feature-length release, “Tour Movie,” is an experimental documentary following two underground bands from Louisville on their first tour FILM together. The film is a direct look at Belushi Speed Ball and Dick Titty Blood Punch on the road in 2017, dealing with the trials and tribulations of when small bands leave home, hitting the unknown, being wild and hoping for the best. The film doesn’t make grand statements, instead choosing to bring its audience in on the ambiguous experience of a trip down long roads and through unfamiliar dive bars. Reservations are required. —Scott Recker

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

SATURDAY, MAY 15

Paristown Flea

Christy’s Garden | 711 Brent St. | thefleurdeflea.com | No cover | 9 a.m.-6 p.m. There’s always a good find waiting at Fleur De Flea Vintage Urban Market, and the pickers paradise is returning to its roots with a monthly, outdoor shopping OH LÀ LÀ extravaganza. You’ll find a curated and “eclectic mix of vendors” selling vinyl, antiques, mid-century and art deco artifacts, plants, books and re-purposed wonders. There’s more to do than shop, too. Come for food trucks, a pop-up bar and live music. — Danielle Grady

STAFF PICKS

SATURDAY, MAY 15-16

Norton Commons Art Festival

North Village Town Square | 6320 Rosebay St. | nortoncommons.com No cover | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Oh yeah, art festivals. We remember those. If you’ve been missing ‘em, Norton Commons is having one with FESTIVAL over 60 vendors, including painters, jewelery makers, photographers, mixed media artists, woodworkers and more. There will be beer and wine from Commonwealth Tap for the adults, a kids’ zone for the children and local food trucks for everyone. —LEO

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SATURDAY, MAY 15

Spring Fling Hops And Shops At OLPH Brewery

Our Lady of Perpetual Hops | 300 Foundation Court, New Albany | Search Facebook | No cover | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Do a little local shopping with mimosa flights, bloody marys and live music. Our Lady of Perpetual Hops, OLPH, is helping get everyone back out and socializing SPRING again… and supporting local small businesses. This outdoor festival hosts an array of 20 or more local vendors, including Southern Grit, Birdhat Beard Oil, artisan baked goods, vintage repurposed furniture, tumblers, Hoosier yard signs and more. A local food vendor will also be around to preserve balance in the force, and live music will be provided by Tyler and Christi. After the festival fun closes up, feel free to hang around until midnight in their fun-filled brewery. —LEO

MOVE YOUR PAWS FOR A CAUSE AND WALK FOR ETHAN AND FRIENDS!

27th Annual Waggin’ Trail Walk for the Animals

June 4 - 6, 2021

Grrr-ab your leashes and your four-legged best friend(s) for the Kentucky Humane Society’s virtual charity walk! Register and get a cool Ethan & Friends T-shirt, then invite friends and family to support your walk. Your participation means the world to the dogs, cats and horses at KHS. Matching Gift Sponsor:

STAFF PICKS

SATURDAY, MAY 15

MONDAY, MAY 17

Louisville Salsa Underground | 574 S. 4th Street | riot.cafe $10-$35 | 7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

TEN20 | 1020 E. Washington St. | Search Eventbrite | $6 | 7 p.m.

Salsa Night

If you and your partner are looking for a seductive late-night getaway, look no further than the Riot Cafe. It’s normally a cafe with a social justice focus, but on Saturday, DANCE it’ll play host to the vivacious rhythms of salsa and bachata. Learn the moves, then show them off — admission gets you a lesson and dancing time, courtesy of a local dance instructor and DJ. Tickets are limited, and prices vary depending on whether or not you also get the dinner and cocktail add-ons. Still, every ticket guarantees a caliente night that’ll bring you and your special someone closer together. (Then apart, ‘cause… that’s how dancing works.) — Carolyn Brown

The Brewery Comedy Tour At TEN20

Get some laughs at Butchertown’s new craft brewery, TEN20. The Brewery Comedy Tour sends out comedians from Los Angeles and New York to breweries all across FUNNY the country. So far, teams of two to four comedians, “whose credits include top festivals, TV and major club appearances,” according to organizers, have visited over 1,500 local breweries. You can catch them in Butchertown on Monday, and check out TEN20’s first lineup of 14 brews on tap. If you can’t catch them this time through, there will be a second night of laughs Monday, June 14. Perhaps it will be a handful of new comedians, so just go ahead and plan on catching both. —LEO

THROUGH MAY 30 SUNDAY, MAY 16

The Refresh at Pocket Change

Change Today, Change Tomorrow | 1753 Bardstown Rd change-today.org/therefresh | Free | 1– 5 p.m. After a year that’s taken such a toll on so many communities, especially the Black community, a self-care event like The Refresh is long overdue. Participants SELF-CARE will enjoy an hour-long restorative yoga session, followed by brunch, then dancing –– all completely free of charge. (Still, you have to reserve a spot in advance by emailing pocketchange@changetoday.org –– which also gets you a free goodie bag!) If you miss this one, don’t worry –– there’ll be two Refreshes each month from now through November. You deserve healing, and you deserve to be, as the organizers put it, relaxed, restored and refreshed. Save yourself from stress by saving yourself a spot. — Carolyn Brown

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

‘Recon�ıguration: Works By Bette Levy And Kathleen Loomis’ PYRO Gallery | 1006 E. Washington St. | pyrogallery.com | Free For once in a lifetime (we hope), everyone has had GALLERY to change due to the pandemic. Or, to use the word preferred by artists Bette Levy and Kathleen Loomis, reconfigure. For Levy, reconfiguring is an active process of altering earlier art. “It is exciting to examine past work and to see it in a different way,” she said. “Some of [the work] is new, but it too has the possibility of being reconfigured at a later date.” Loomis’ idea of change is to make old, discarded items new again, by way of art. As a confessed pack rat, she “likes to reassemble these disparate things and see what happens when they get into small groups and start to talk to one another.” —Jo Anne Triplett

‘Wheeling Along’ by Bette Levy. Crocheted nylon cord, unknown vintage object.

Closing June 6, 2021

Free admission & parking for everyone. Advanced ticket reservation strongly encouraged and face masks required.

Promise, Witness, Remembrance reflects on the life of Breonna Taylor, her killing in 2020, and the year of protests that followed, in Louisville and around the world. The exhibition explores the dualities between a personal, local

Amy Sherald (b. 1973) Breonna Taylor 2020 Oil on linen © Amy Sherald. Courtesy of Amy Sherald. Photo: Joseph Hyde

story and the nation’s reflection on the promise, witness, and remembrance of too many Black lives lost to gun violence.

Made possible through support from The Ford Foundation.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

MUSIC

LOUISVILLE SONGWRITER’S DEBUT ROOTED IN FOLK TRADITION By Gri��ın Fletcher | leo@leoweekly.com

IT COULD BE ARGUED the heyday of the acoustic songwriter ended sometime after the early 1970s. Disco became cool, and synths and electronic samples dominated the 1980s soundscape, leaving a gaggle of front-porch troubadours and their trusty six-strings hanging out to dry. Louisville musician and singersongwriter Sam Filiatreau, 26, defies this narrative with his eponymous solo debut, Sam Filiatreau, an album that crackles and pops with all the charm of an inherited vinyl record. Filiatreau attributed the album’s traditional feel to his love of folk music and songwriting. “I, at the core, am just a songwriter,” Filiatreau said. “Folk music and songwriting is me.” Recorded over three days in May 2019 in the gutted living room of a remote cabin in Hocking Hills, Ohio, the album is marked by its simplicity, featuring primarily just acoustic guitar, bass, drums and Filiatreau’s steady drawl across its eight tracks. Accompanied throughout by musicians Taylor Meier and Matt Vinson of Caamp, an Ohio-based folk trio with an Appalachian bend, Filiatreau said all recording was done with a “loose” approach to maintain the wild spirit of the location and moment. “We weren’t rushing anything,” Filiatreau said. “We were just literally living with the record.” Before any recording even took place, the three grabbed some beers, and Vinson and Meier, who also produced the album, asked Filiatreau to perform some of his favorite original songs acoustically outside of the cabin. This helped them decide which songs to record and also how Vinson and Meier could best accompany the music. “We got there, we figured out the songs that we were gonna cut, and we kinda jammed through them, figured out how we liked to play them and then just hit record,” Filiatreau said. Both Meier and Vinson, who performed drums and bass on the tracks, respectively, were hugely important to

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

Singer-Songwriter Sam Filiatreau

the arrangement, sound and feel of the album. Filiatreau said that hearing his own music for the ﬁrst time with backing instrumentation was immense. “To ﬁnally hit record and hear more instruments coming back, it’s like, ‘Whoa,’” Filiatreau said. “I think we did what we were supposed to.” Filiatreau initially crossed paths with Meier and Vinson at a Louisville house show organized

Singer-Songwriter Sam Filiatreau talks about his new release.

MUSIC

by a mutual friend on Valentine’s Day Filiatreau said the album’s closing 2019, performing an acoustic set of track, “Fine By Me,” is his most proud original music in between their respeclyrical accomplishment on the record. tive solo sets. Vinson said he and Meier Written without a chorus, the song is were immediately drawn to Filiatreau composed of three verses, each describon account of his ing a unique stage songwriting, perforof love through the mance and overall eyes of an aging Filiatreau said the good nature. couple. From album’s closing smoking joints and “When we came down to Louisville taking refuge in bed track, “Fine By and did the show, from a house full it was just like, of kids to accepting Me,” is his most you know, socks the inevitability that proud lyrical off,” Vinson said. one must pass away “Tay [Meier] and before the other, accomplishment I looked at each Filiatreau said he on the record. other from across wrote the song after the room and were contemplating his Written without a just like, ‘Woo, own experiences this is really, really with love. chorus, the song unique and fresh.’” “It’s just taking is composed of one little piece of Vinson said he that I have and Meier soon three verses, each love experienced and after walked outside for a smoke describing a unique thinking about and decided on the where it’s gonna go stage of love spot they wanted in a perfect world,” to record an album Filiatreau said. through the eyes with Filiatreau. Since recordMeier said Filiof an aging couple. ing the album, atreau’s talent for Filiatreau became From smoking authentic writing the first signee to was unmistakable. Gjenny Records, joints and taking Meier’s newly “The first thing I noticed about him refuge in bed from a founded record just as a person label, in April 2021. house full of kids to The label released within his songs and songwriting first accepting the inevi- Filiatreau’s too was just the single, “Wrecking honesty,” Meier Ball,” to streaming tability that one said. “It was just services on April 22 must pass away effortless.” and will release his full-length debut on With influences before the other, like Bruce SpringJune 1. steen, John Prine Though FiliFiliatreau said he and Townes Van atreau remarked wrote the song Zandt, Filiatreau he’s excited to noted he’s always finally share some after contemplatbeen drawn to of the music he lyrics. After years ing his own experi- recorded nearly of playing in bands, two years ago, he ences with love. notably Louisville remains focused on rock outfit Lazy all the work still in Sunday from 2011store, such as final2017, he’s happy izing tour dates and to finally perform music with a greater promoting the album. attention to words. “The success has not come yet,” Filiatreau said. “We’re just on our way.” • “I love lyrics,” Filiatreau said. “I’m excited to be playing a genre of music to where it seems like that will be the focal point for a little bit.”

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

A WIDE RANGE OF EXCEPTIONAL INDIAN FOOD AT CLAY OVEN Clay Oven’s baingan bharta, a deliciously spicy roasted and mashed eggplant curry, has its roots in the Punjab in far northern India.

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com LET US TAKE A MOMENT to mark the virtual extinction of the all-you-can-eat buffet. Rendered terrifying by the pandemic and images of contagious hands dipping into communal pans, the restaurant buffet has all but disappeared from our lives. I won’t mourn it much, with a solitary exception: I miss Indian restaurant buffets, and you should, too. My reasoning on this is simple: A lot of people are still discovering Indian food, and the buffet makes it easy. Even if you don’t know the difference between aloo and bhindi (all right, potato and okra), you can learn a lot by grazing the buffet. Try a little taste of this, a dab of that, and before long you’ve gotten to know the cuisine. We can’t do that now and won’t for the foreseeable future. But we can still toughen up, head for a good Indian eatery like Clay Oven in Middletown, and ﬁgure out how the menu works and what to look for while the buffet remains under wraps.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

I hadn’t been back to Clay Oven since I reviewed it in 2013, shortly after its arrival. It was good then, but I’d rate it as an even brighter star in the Indian-restaurant galaxy now. Everything we tried was well prepared and delicious. So let’s have a look at that menu. As a pandemic precaution, by the way, they’ve placed the extensive menu under the glass cover on every table. The menu reads “aromas of the Himalaya,” and the restaurant websites add, “Louisville’s very own source of authentic Indian and Nepali cuisine.” Clay Oven’s Facebook page, on the other hand, promises “exceptional Indian dishes from all regions of India.” It appears to me that it’s both: The basic dishes of the Indian canon are included for sure, but you can also choose regional dishes focused on India’s mountainous north. Absent the buffet, it’s not a bad idea to look over the menu online before you go. It looks complicated, with its front and back

Garlic naan, browned from the tandoor oven, and crispy lentil-flour papadums go well with all your Clay Oven dishes.

FOOD & DRINK

Clay Oven’s pakoras, crunchy and spicy veggie fritters, bristle with fried onions.

both covered with three columns of dense, tiny type. But spend a little time with it and you’ll see that it breaks down into simple categories that are easy to understand. After appetizers, soups, salads and an array of Indian breads, the 60-some entrees break out into chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetarian sections; biryani and pilaf rice dishes; Indo-Chinese dishes that blend Indian, Nepali and Chinese ﬂavors; and the restaurant’s specialties from the namesake tandoor clay oven. With few exceptions, main-dish prices are tightly clustered between $11.99 and $17.99. Most entrees come with long-grain basmati rice — be sure to specify if you want your dish mild, medium, hot or Indian hot. You can trust them to spice it as you like it. Speaking of spice, I like to accompany my Indian meal with a lassi, the Indian

drink that’s basically a tall glass of yogurt whipped with a little water and either fruit — mango is popular — or salt and spices. Dairy is the best antidote to ﬁery fare, so it’s hard to beat a lassi when you plan to order your dish above medium. Clay Oven’s salty lassi ($2.99) was exceptional, among the best lassis I’ve ever tried. Rich and thick, served cold, it was ﬂavored with lots of cumin and whiffs of cilantro and coriander seed. Papadum, crisp lentil wafers, are often served as a starter with spicy chutneys, the Indian eatery’s answer to chips and salsa. The menu lists a plate full for $2.99, but our server offered them complimentary. They were grease-free, perhaps baked rather than fried — salty, crisp and delicious. Tubs of onion and cilantro-mint chutney were served on the side. An appetizer order of vegetable pakoras

($3.99 for six pieces) also hit the spot. These appetizing ping-pong-ball-size onion fritters were freshly-fried dark brown, crunchy and spicy. Deconstruction revealed plenty of onion strips bound in a savory batter tinted orange by a mix of spices. Seekh kebab ($14.99) made a memorable main course. It’s a kebab made from ground lamb and aromatic spices that impart a bold red color. The ground, spiced meat is molded around a skewer in a sausage shape and cooked in the tandoor, then cut diagonally into about eight pieces. The meat was plated under large strips of spicy, juicy white onion and red and green peppers, also tinted red from the tandoor. It was ordered mild and came that way, with sides of basmati rice and rich, buttery dal makhani and redbean stew from the Punjab. Baingan bharta ($11.99) also traces its roots to the Punjab in far northern India. It

starts with a whole eggplant that’s roasted in the tandoor until it’s tender and smoky. Then it’s mashed and sautéed with onions, tomatoes and plenty of garlic. I asked for “hot but not Indian hot,” and it imparted a wonderful endorphin rush that was plenty for me. The lassi, plenty of rice and a generous portion of puffy, tandoor-browned garlic naan bread ($2.99) brought it into line. The tab for a ﬁlling, ﬂawless Indian lunch for two came to $42.34, plus a $10 tip. •

CLAY OVEN INDIAN RESTAURANT Eastgate Shopping Center 12567 Shelbyville Road 254-4363 indianfoodlouisville.com

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PENNY LANE AT THE PARK PROMISES SAFE FUN DURING THE LAST GASP OF THE PANDEMIC By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com ABBEY ROAD ON THE RIVER happens yearly, typically on Memorial Day weekend. This year, the Abbey Road on the River festival has moved its dates to September. Instead of leaving the slot open, the organizers have decided to introduce a new Memorial Day weekend small festival called Penny Lane at the Park. This smaller festival will allow for social distancing, fun and affordability. Event producer Gary Jacobs spoke with LEO about the new event and why it was necessary. “You know, we’ve been three times postponed with the main event due to COVID,” said Jacobs. “We were originally scheduled for last Memorial Day weekend and, obviously, we had to postpone it. Then, we rescheduled it for October and nothing had improved by then. Somewhere around February or March, we realized we weren’t going to be able to do May again either.” The new festival is able to happen, even at a smaller level, because of the space and the level of vaccinations in the community. As more and more people are vaccinated, the ability for festivals and events to take place safely increases. “As the producer of the event, it kind of pained me to let the weekend go knowing that 80-90% of our customers would be vaccinated by then,” said Jacobs. “So I reached out to the city with a different kind of an idea of doing a scaled back, downsized, more socially-distant festival, not even realizing how much better it would be today as when we ﬁrst started talking to them about it, like six weeks ago.” The new festival will happen on Memorial Day weekend, May 29-30 at Big Four Station Park. It will ofﬁcially kick off summer with 10 to 12 bands including The Newbees, kids from Louisville’s School of Rock and — from Puerto Rico — The Jukebox Beatles. The new festival will, like its predecessor, pay homage to the legacy of the Beatles and the music of the ‘60s. The producers wanted to be sure that this festival offered fans of AROTR something special. “The idea was to do something small and keep it priced really affordably because we know that people have been through — economically, as well — the worst year and a half of their lives,” said Jacobs. “And we wanted to price it in a way that, you know,

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

‘10 bucks, of course I can afford 10 bucks to see live music again.’” “We’re maintaining beer at $5, and parking lots that we have control over are $5 so that people can afford to come. And then, from how to stage an event that makes people feel healthy and safe, we, just like everybody else, we just keep following the science.” For fans of Beatles music, a lowcost, social-distanced, outdoor music festival might be just the ticket to their reentry into the social world. With a $10 ticket price, low cost beer and A Beatles cover band performs during Abbey parking, it should Road on the River. Festival organizers have encourage folks moved the main festival and added, “Penny Lane to come out. Be at the Park” mini-fest for the end of May. warned the festival is also limiting the number of tickets sold to around 2,500 people. This means that there will be plenty of space to “Come Together” without spreading COVID. A father feeds his son ice cream during the Even with last Abbey Road on the River music festival. COVID cancellaOrganizers are pleased to introduce their new tions, Abbey Road on the festival, Penny Lane at the Park. River and Penny Lane you’d have to at the Park organizers managed to salvage put up deposits enough funds to boost their offerings with and with bigger the new weekend. agencies — and “We’ve been lucky that probably 90% you don’t have of our customers that bought tickets for last any cash and year have sat on it all through this,” said you’re waitJacobs. “They have not asked for refunds, they’ve been loyal, and they’ve been waiting ing for this to come through for us to reopen. And that’s amazing.” — it’s pretty The festival group is eligible for money depressing.” through the “Save our Stages Act” but have The ‘60s are alive and well at festivals Abbey Road on the River and the new offering, Penny Lane at the Park, happening at the end of May. But the time found it easier to navigate the landscape than for depression is many smaller venues and clubs that carry be safe. Penny Lane at the Park is trying to coming to a close for live music fans. As large overhead. Despite being a mid-sized demonstrate this and hopefully the fans will we transition into “living with COVID” we festival event and feeling the sting of the appreciate the effort and return the favor by will learn how to create safe ways to share pandemic’s cancellations, they’ve managed following the festival rules. • live music again. As long as the weather is to survive the delay in SOS funding which good, we have ample outdoor spaces and might ﬁnally start ﬂowing at the end of this Penny Lane at the Park is May 29 and 30 opportunities but even as venues like The month. at Big Four Station Park in Jeffersonville, Palace reopen, we are learning more about “We’ve been able to negotiate with all of the ways that — even with COVID — we our fans, but if you’re a club that’s trying to Indiana. Tickets are $10 and children 10 and can, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” book 75 shows into the next six months, and under are free.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | COMICS

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COMIC BOOK REVIEWS!

Winning LEO Readers’ Choice Best Thai Restaurant since 2009.

By Krystal Moore and Felix Cornell | leo@leoweekly.com

Eve No. 1

BOOM! Studios Written by Victor LaValle Art by Jo Mi-Gyeong Review by Krystal Moore

“Eve” No. 1 begins with an eleven year old girl named Eve enjoying the beauty of the island she loves and has grown up on. When her father calls her home for supper, they decide on Jackson Square in New Orleans for where they want to eat. A large screen around the table changes to show the familiar place. This gives us the first hint that something more is going on than we’ve been led to believe. Writer Victor LaValle’s wife is a non fiction writer, specializing in climate issues. This book’s theme is very much inspired by her writing, obviously, as we follow Eve on her journey, first meeting a teddy bear who is actually an android designed by her father to help her on the mission she’s just now realizing she’s been preparing 11 years for. The future of Earth seems to depend on her and her companion navigating the flood waters of the remnants of America. Hopefully, the second issue will give more insight into what exactly her mission is, not only for us as readers, but for Eve herself as a character in this fictional world. At least, it’s fictional for the moment. Let’s hope we can keep it that way.

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Eden (one-shot) AfterShock Comics Written by Cullen Bunn Art by Dalibor Talajić Review by Felix Cornell

Sometimes it takes meeting the right person to brighten your world. “Eden” is the story of Niles, a lonely tattoo artist who has fallen into a depression pit following the loss of his wife and child. Day in and day out he does the same tattoos, goes to the same bar, eats the same takeout. This all changes when a new customer, Eden, shows up at his shop for a walk-in appointment. She leaves quite the impression on Niles when she requests for him to design her unique butterfly — the one stipulation being that he has to tattoo it with no preliminary sketch. However, when she stops by for a second tattoo several weeks later, the butterfly has vanished. Even as Niles falls for this mysterious and charismatic woman, he finds himself searching for answers that she refuses to give. Eden swears up and down that she loves the results, yet time after time they disappear from her skin. When he finally takes it upon himself to dig up the answers on his own, what he discovers changes his life forever. “Eden” starts out as a pretty standard (though rather grim) slice-of-life style comic, detailing the lonely life of tattoo artist Niles. Eden introduces a layer of magic to it, which eventually takes a turn towards body horror. While it seems to be a story of love and healing, this self contained one-shot twists into a shocking culmination of events.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

ETC.

49 55 59

110

111

88 94

100

96 101

102

107

112

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103 109

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123

100 Sandwich supposedly named after low-income New Orleans workers 101 Begins a triathlon 103 Like the clue for 103-Down? 104 Teased incessantly 105 Kind of cavity 106 Hard vehicle to park 109 Telenovela, e.g. 110 Some drink dispensers 111 Extend (out) 114 Org. with lots of money to waste? 115 Order member 116 ‘‘Ver-r-ry interesting!’’

PEC P O E N

I G O

GLUTE

QUAD

R E D H O T G A L E

I D L E

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T E A K

‘‘I won’t ____ it!’’ Pending Risqué communiqué Ancient home to Priam’s Treasure Out of practice Quick refresher Visibly scornful Cold that just won’t go away? Superpopular Gooey spread Where gymnast Simone Biles won four golds One-celled organism Enter unannounced, in a way Photog’s setting Name of the girl on ‘‘Game of Thrones’’ who said ‘‘A girl has no name’’ Spot between programs, e.g. Beehive material Annual May race, informally One of three characters in ‘‘M*A*S*H’’ Ones behind the scenes Consider, with ‘‘on’’ High-priority item Vocalist’s asset Directly criticized on Twitter with an ‘‘@’’ Gillette razor name Literature Nobelist Bellow Bit of faulty logic

108

I C E A G E

114

I P I R L S S E S A E S X E E C E D E D

106

A R H A E N

K O R E A

H I N L I M B O

105

D Y

TRAP

41 50

33 40

I O

32 39

H A I R

31 37

T V A D

77 78 79 84 85 87 89 92 93 95 97 99

13 22

S A U

55 56 58 60 62 63 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76

27 30

104

LAT

52 54

P O K E

24 29 32 33 34 35 36 38 41 42 43 45 47 49 50

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B S O Y A F R Y S A N R E Y E A R Y M E S O A A P

7 8 9

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90 91 92 94

1 2 3 4 5 6

DOWN Verve It’s 50/50 ‘‘That kinda stuff’’: Abbr. Buckaroos Mint Fictional pilot with the line ‘‘You like me because I’m a scoundrel’’ ‘‘Here ____ again’’ Milk for un café Onetime MTV reality series filmed near Hollywood Recall regretfully Auditing org. Courtroom statements Bone to pick Lighter than lite Word after soul or solid ‘‘You, too?!’’ playfully Smart Wood that’s resistant to warping Mountain chain that stretches from Kazakhstan to the Arctic Do a waving motion by the ocean, say ‘‘That proves it’’ Shade similar to verdigris Distinguish oneself Positioned to win Shared with for quick feedback Cut into Region with a Unification Flag for sporting events Pen pa? Just hanging out It really blows Knucklehead Flinch (at) Ending for a dean’s address Cable network with movies like ‘‘Sharktopus’’ and ‘‘Mansquito’’ Least klutzy Made a boo-boo

R A R F O R A S Y I T S D O M E P U T S S C W T R I O M O S H O W

80 81 82 83 85 86 87 88

117 118 119 120 121 122 123

L T R E H U C H E E H U H E L I T A L E B L A A S S L L L K I N P A R P E E M E A N E D S B U T T A P E R R A E N I C P U S A N K

ACROSS Muhammad Ali’s ‘‘Me! Whee!,’’ e.g. ‘‘S.N.L.’’ alum Hartman Start off on the wrong foot, maybe? Contaminate What may be in a star’s orbit Throw with power Alleviate Sheep’s milk product that’s often grated Classic name for the land north of England Course taken in shorts, often ‘‘Ya don’t say!’’ 765-foot-long ‘‘water coaster’’ on Disney cruises Countertenor SWAT team or Navy SEAL group, e.g. Name that sounds like two letters of the alphabet Epitome of smoothness ‘‘Roots’’ author Haley Shocker, at times & 44 It goes around every hour Gaming novice, slangily Secured skates, with ‘‘up’’ Float component Act as a blueprint for, as DNA for proteins Brawled, in the backwoods ‘‘Howdy, everybody!’’ Withstand Fly off the shelves Like bread made from almond flour ‘‘Oh, hell yes!’’ Turn red, say Certain formal duds Nice round number? Bollywood megastar Aishwarya ____ ‘‘My dear man’’ Grammy category won multiple times by Kendrick Lamar Racy selfie posted for likes on social media, in modern lingo Not a problem Kennel club category Makeup table ‘‘Dead serious!’’ ‘‘And, uh, that about covers it’’ Supporting role New students at Princeton or Yale in 1969 There’s a famous ‘‘half’’ one in Yosemite National Park Vessel protected by Hera Uninteresting Encouraging cry Bottom

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No. 0502

E M P H T O U R A O R I N L A S S A L T O I S I L N D N O C O D E I D E S S O F R E E T U X B E S I R S T N I T Y D E C Y R A H E L W I E N T M A G E O P E D

BY JEREMY NEWTON / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

Saves, with ‘‘away’’ ‘‘Ain’t dead ____!’’ They often come to professors with excuses Hoodwink Get snake eyes, say Lacking experience Aligns, in a wood shop Set straight Oscar winner for his role as a Mexican narc in ‘‘Traffic’’ Price to pay, informally Major piece Miniature for a World War II buff Were running mates? Quite a jerk Make an appearance Recess for prayer

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The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

I'm someone who does gay porn for a living. How do people who do gay porn meet someone who doesn’t just sexualize or fetishize them? I can’t eat, sleep, and breathe my work constantly but the guys I meet want me to live out the “porn persona” version of myself all the time. How does someone who does porn know who you can be yourself with? Aiden Ward @aidenxxxward “Living with two identities is deﬁnitely a balancing act,” said Devin Franco, an award-winning gay porn performer. “Being in porn means juggling the ‘real world’ person I actually am—a person who has to navigate rent, healthcare, bills, and a social life—and a porn star alter ego. And these days our porn alter egos don’t just have to perform. We also have to do a lot of our own shooting and our own PR while maintaining our images. It’s a lot. And reality always comes knocking no matter how much fun you're having. The bills always come due.” Franco’s ﬁrst bit of advice is to remember that you are not your alter ego. “It’s a beautiful and sexy part of you that you have the opportunity to show to the world,” said Franco. “But it’s not all of you. That will help you stay grounded.” It also helps to remember that being “porn famous” doesn’t mean everyone knows who you are. “A lot of people you meet will have no idea who you are,” said Franco, “which means a lot of the time you’ll get to choose when you want to introduce yourself as your porn alter ego or when you want to just be yourself. This makes it easier to create boundaries between your real life and your porn life. Knowing you get to decide when or even if you want to introduce yourself as your actual self or as that fantasy version of yourself—your alter ego—means you can control how a lot of people perceive you.” So even if you get as porn famous as Franco is, Aiden, you’ll still have lots of opportunities for people to get to know the real you—not the porn persona—before you tell them what you do for a living. As with so many things (being HIV+, being trans, being kinky, being polyam, etc.), when you tell a guy you do porn, Aiden, you’re telling him one thing he needs to know about you—but his reaction will tell you everything you need to know about him. If he starts shaming you about what you do—or if he goes from seeing you as a person who is also an object to seeing you as just an object—that’s really all you need to know: don’t see him, unfollow him, block him. “Now lots of the people who fetishize and sexualize you are your fans—they’re your audience, they’re the ones who pay your bills, and you have to recognize that and you do have to keep them interested,” said Franco, “but you don’t have to give them all of your time and attention. Because at the end of the day, it's your work and you’ve got other shit to do. You will meet people both in and out of the industry who recognize that you are a real person, with a real life, and who will get to know the real you,” said Franco. “And

you’ll sometimes find that some of the people who fetishized you at first don’t anymore once they get to know the real you.” Franco shared your question with CagedJock, another high-profile porn star that Franco works with regularly, and CagedJock shared his strategy for finding guys he can be himself around: “I like to hang out with people who work in the same industry,” said CagedJock, “because they don’t sexualize me. Devin and I have been friends since 2019. He’s super sexy and I adore him. While other guys might only see him only as fantasy figure, I don’t. Because I know our work doesn’t define us 24/7. We’re friends.” Follow Devin Franco on Twitter @devinfrancoxxx and CagedJock @cagedjock. Q: I'm a gay male in his thirties and during the pandemic I stayed with a straight male friend and his girlfriend. He’d periodically been flirty with me over the years—sending me nude photos and drunkenly telling me that he loved me. When his girlfriend was away visiting family we got drunk together. He bought all the alcohol, he mixed it, and he served it. During this time we had a series of drunken encounters. The first time he took out his cock and asked me if I wanted to play with it. There was some brief licking and he grabbed my hair and finished on my face. He hugged me and rubbed my back after. The next two times were less serious, but he took off his shirt and pants. On one of those occasions his girlfriend called and he put his clothes back on, took the call, then came back and took his clothes off again. All three times it happened he was fully engaged and communicating his wants and initiating things. His girlfriend eventually found out about one of the incidents. After a month of drama, he told her everything and they broke up. Shortly after he claimed that I took advantage of him and claimed he was too drunk to give consent! I am not sure what to make of this. First, he is the one that supplied the alcohol and made us both really strong drinks. He also drinks a lot regularly, so his tolerance is much higher than mine, but we drank the same amount and I was much drunker than he was. Third, he continued to hang out with me until his girlfriend found out. I am deeply hurt. I’ve lost of two friends—which I admit that I am partially to blame for. I knew they were together. But I don’t know what to about the accusation that I forced him to be sexual without his consent. I have played events over and over in my mind and I don’t understand how he could say this. He supplied the alcohol, he was an active participant, and when I asked if he really wanted to do this, he said yes. I am not sure if he is gaslighting me or if he honestly remembers things differently. Boy Lost And Hurt A: At some point in our gay lives every gay man learns not to mess around with a friend’s drunk straight-identified boyfriend. No matter how many dick pics they send us, no matter how much they claim

to wanna, when it comes to shit—as it invariably does—the gay guy is gonna get the blame. It’s a lesson most of us learn earlier in life (I was sixteen when I learned it), BLAH, but it’s a lesson most us learn after messing around with the drunk straight-identified boyfriend of a friend. We fuck around, we find out. Anyway, your male former friend obviously wanted to mess around with another dude—he wasn’t sending you dick pics by accident—and the drinks he made were as much about lowering his inhibitions and yours (about cheating with him) as they were giving him some plausible deniability (“Man, I was so drunk last night!”) if the worst should happen. And it did: you fucked around, she found out. But after you guys got caught—which almost everybody does—instead of taking responsibility or coming out as bi or bi-curious or at the very least heteroflexible, BLAH, your former friend weaponized the toxic stereotype of the predatory homosexual against you. It’s understandable that you’re upset. If it’ll make you feel better— and it would certainly make me feel better—send screengrabs of the dick pics he sent you to him and his girlfriend. Because if anyone was making passes here, it was him. If anyone taking advantage here, it was him. You slept with a friend’s boyfriend and that’s not okay and for that you should apologize. But you have every right to push back against the accusation that you forced yourself on your former friend—and you have the receipts and he knows it, BLAH, and he probably should’ve thought of that before invoking a shitty homophobic stereotype against you. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS LEGAL

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2005 Merz E320 gold VIN #WDBUF26J15A561383, Owner Holly Popham of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2010 Cadi SRX VIN #3GYFNAEY1AS546553, Owner Jasmine Oliver of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2006 Dodge Durango Blue VIN #1D4HB48N86F115197, Owner Tiffiney Frazier of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2007 Lincoln MKX white VIN #2LMDU88C87BJ07731, Owner Raven ErvIn of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

MULTIPLE FACILITIES – MULTIPLE UNITS

Extra Space Storage will hold a public auction at the location indicated: Facility 1: 7900 Dixie Highway, Louisville, KY 40258: May 19, 2021 – 1PM Units: 449, 609, 658, 847 Facility 2: 6708 Preston Highway, Louisville, KY 40219: May 19, 2021 – 1PM Units:132, 366, 779 Facility 3: 5420 Valley Station Rd, Louisville, KY 40272: May 19, 2021 – 1PM Units: 513 Facility 4: 4605 Wattbourne Ln, Louisville KY 40299: May 19, 2021 – 1PM Units: 354 Facility 6: 6456 Outer Loop, Louisville, KY 40228: May 19, 2021 – 1PM Units: 628, 931, 6010 The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property

REPOSSESSION SALE

These vehicles will be offered for sale to the highest bidder at the time, date and place stated below. Term of sale is cash only. Seller reserves the right to bid and purchase at said sale. Dealers welcome.

May 27, 11:00 A.M.

2012 Chevrolet Eauinox 2GNALDEKSC1143507

DIXIE AUTO SALES

(502) 384-7766 (NEXT TO ZIP’S CAR WASH) 7779 DIXIE HWY., LOUISVILLE, KY 40258

EMPLOYMENT QUALITY CONTROL ENGINEER

Rick's Collision and Paint, 5210 Cane Run Road Louisville, KY 40216, 502-494-2262 is seeking to obtain a clear title to a 2010 Ford Fussion, Vin # 3FAHP0JG2AR421770, Owner Aleashea Robertson, 1728 Marlow RD, Louisville KY 40216, Gardiner Used Cars, 2700 Seventh St Rd, Louisville, KY 40215 You/They have 21 days from the first date of this publication of this legal notice to notify me.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION TO OWNERS OF THE WITHIN DESCRIBED ESTATE AND ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: SSK Communities / Barrington Pointe Will expose at public sale to the highest Bidder on MAY 20th 2021 At 10:00 am. Location of the sale will be 1321 Glengarry Drive. Mobile home only, 1983 Liberty, VIN: LL1462BFKDU, Located At: 1477 Glengarry Drive Fairdale, KY 40118.

Address problems areas and oversee corrective action programs, establish and review annual quality improvement plans as well as plant operational plans, and perform continuous improvement in quality key measure performance and customer satisfaction. Develop key customer relationships in the supplier quality area for successful execution of product launches. Must have a Bachelors degree, or its foreign degree equivalent, in mechanical or automotive engineering or related, 2 years professional experience in auto/industrial manufacturing. Send resume to Human Resources, Yamamoto FB Engineering, 7331 Global Drive, Louisville, KY 40258 or email hdean@yamamotofb.com.

Data Engineer (Louisville, KY) Resp for design, creation & mgmt. of lrg datasets. Generate reports & dashboards for biz units. Req: Bach degree in IT; exp: Data Warehouse eg Google Cloud BigQuery, AWS Redshift; Data query/viz tools eg Google Data Studio, Kissmetrics, Looker; Segment; ETL tool; Intercom; SQL; & a prog lang eg C++, C#, JavaScript or Python. Application to elise@switcherstudio.com

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021

Cut grass. Cut pollution. Cut pollution. Getgrass. up to aCut $100 rebate Get up to a $100 rebate on new on new electric lawn electric lawn equipment. equipment.

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502-574-6000 28

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 12, 2021